Shooting of Trayvon Martin

Shooting of Trayvon Martin, fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. The shooting exposed deep divisions among Americans on race issues.

Martin, a 17-year-old African American, was returning from a convenience store when he was noticed by Zimmerman, a neighbourhood-watch volunteer of German and Peruvian ancestry. Zimmerman contacted the nonemergency line of the Sanford Police Department, mentioned that there had been burglaries in the neighbourhood, and told the dispatcher that he had observed “a real suspicious guy” who was “walking around, looking about.” Zimmerman also described Martin as someone “up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something.” The dispatcher communicated to Zimmerman that the police did not need him to follow Martin, but Zimmerman, nevertheless, left his vehicle. He later said he had done so in order to ascertain his location by taking a closer look at a street sign. A violent confrontation ensued, and Zimmerman fired his weapon at Martin at close range, causing Martin’s death. When police arrived, Zimmerman argued that he had been assaulted by Martin, who was unarmed, and fired in self-defense. Concluding that they could not hold Zimmerman—because no evidence contradicted his version of the event and because state law permitted the use of deadly force in self-defense—the police released him.

In the following weeks, as Zimmerman remained uncharged, the shooting drew increasing attention. On March 12 the chief of the Sanford Police Department affirmed that no criminal charge could be filed against Zimmerman, mainly because of the absence of probable cause. A day later, however, a Sanford police investigator assigned to the case recommended that Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter, on the basis that the violent encounter between the two men could have been avoided. Zimmerman remained free, which was seen by many as an injustice, and demonstrations demanding his prosecution for murder were organized in cities across the United States. In April 2012 the governor of Florida, Rick Scott, appointed a special prosecutor for the case, who brought a criminal charge of second-degree murder against Zimmerman.

Zimmerman’s trial—which began more than a year later, in June 2013—received intensive media coverage. The prosecution argued that Martin’s death resulted from Zimmerman’s profiling of him as a criminal and trying to take the law into his own hands. The defense argued that the evidence corroborated Zimmerman’s version of the event—namely, that he fired his weapon because Martin was attacking him and that he felt that his life was threatened. Central elements of the incident, however, could not be ascertained. For instance, witnesses disagreed on which of the two men could be heard screaming for help on a recorded call to emergency services.

Although the original criminal charge brought against Zimmerman was second-degree murder, the judge also gave the jury the option of convicting him of the lesser charge of manslaughter. In order to find Zimmerman guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter, the jury had to find not only that Zimmerman had caused Martin’s death but also that he did not do so in self-defense. The issue of self-defense was linked to Florida’s law permitting the use of deadly force to defend oneself against a perceived threat—known as a “stand-your-ground” law—which was central to debate over the shooting. Instructions to the jury referenced the law, but Zimmerman’s lawyers ultimately did not invoke Zimmerman’s rights under it, because, they argued, he did not have the option to retreat anyway. On July 13, 2013, after more than 16 hours of deliberation, the jury declared Zimmerman not guilty.

Martin’s death heightened a debate over the persistence of racism in the United States and in particular over the issue of racial profiling. In March 2012 Pres. Barack Obama—the first African American president of the United States—expressed his dismay at the shooting, saying that “if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” Later Obama compared Martin to his younger self and characterized racial profiling as a reality that most African Americans, including himself, have had to face. Protests continued across the United States in the wake of the Zimmerman verdict and led to the formation of the prominent Black Lives Matter social movement, which focused on better treatment of African Americans in all facets of American society.